Matiangai Sirleaf

Matiangai Sirleaf writes and teaches courses in the areas of criminal law and international law. Sirleaf previously served as a Sharswood Teaching Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, as an assistant professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, and as a lecturer at Bard College and University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, teaching courses in international law, criminal law, comparative law, and human rights. Her scholarship addresses post-conflict justice and how legal institutions can best systematically address the challenges of providing full redress to survivors of mass violence.

From 2010 to 2012, Sirleaf served as a litigation associate in private practice with Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll in Washington, D.C., where she represented plaintiffs in numerous international human rights cases litigated in federal courts. Prior to that, she served as an attorney with the International Center for Transitional Justice, as law clerk to Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, as a summer associate with Debevoise & Plimpton in New York City, and as a law clerk with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. She received her JD from Yale Law School in 2008 and her MA from the University of Ghana (Legon) in International Affairs in 2005. In 2014, she received the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from New York University.

Duke Law School, Durham, NC (May 2017) Culp Colloquium presented draft of Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility

University of Wisconsin Law School, Madison, WI. (Mar. 2017) Wisconsin International Law Journal Symposium, presented draft book chapter on the Criminalization of Trafficking in Hazardous Waste in Africa

Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, PA. (Feb. 2017) International Law Colloquium, presented draft article Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility

Pennsylvania State University Law School, University Park, PA Jan. 2017 Faculty Workshop, presented draft of Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility

American Society for International Law (ASIL) Mid-Year Research Forum, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, WA Nov. 2016 presented draft of Ebola Does Not Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility

Osgoode Law School, York University Toronto, Canada Oct. 2016 International Law in the Global South Research Seminar Series presented draft book chapter Malabo Protocol and International Criminal Justice in Africa

Duke Law School, Durham, NC Sep. 2016 Center for International and Comparative Law’s Women in International Law Research Workshop, presented draft of Ebola Does Not Just Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility.

African Court Research Initiative Conference, Arusha, Tanzania July 2016 presented draft book chapter on the Criminalization of Trafficking in Hazardous Waste in Africa

University of Iowa College of Law, Iowa City, IA July 2016 10th Annual Lutie Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshop presented draft of Ebola Does Not Just Fall from the Sky: Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility

Law & Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA June 2016 Panel: International Criminal Justice in Comparative Perspective presented the Malabo Protocol and Transitional Justice in Africa

Duke Law School, Durham, NC May 2016 Culp Colloquium presented early stage idea on Global Structural Violence and International Responsibility: From Ebola to Zika

Loyola University Chicago Law School, Chicago, IL Apr. 2016, Workshop for book project on Africa’s International Courts, presented Malabo Protocol and Transitional Justice in Africa

American Society of International Law (ASIL) Annual Meeting Washington, D.C. Apr. 2015 Panel: International Criminal Law New Voices presenting Regionalism, Regime Complexes & International Criminal Justice

Awards and Honors

The Ford Institute for Human Security at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public Affairs awarded Professor Sirleaf a research grant for AY 2016 - AY2018 to support her work on global health inequities and the distribution of infectious diseases. The annual competition supports the work of full-time or core non-tenured faculty for research and publication on a human security topic. Read more here.